Largely a disappointment in the first four years of his career (the Packers didn’t exercise his fifth-year option), Packers linebacker and former first-rounder Nick Perry parlayed one season as a 12-game starter into a major payday. (The 11 sacks helped.)
Per a source with knowledge of the contract, here’s the breakdown.
Perry receives a signing bonus of $18.5 million, a non-guaranteed 2017 base salary of $1.3 million, a $4.3 million 2018 roster bonus due on the third day of the league year, a non-guaranteed base salary of $1.9 million in 2018, a $4.8 million 2019 roster bonus on the third day of the league year, a non-guaranteed base salary of $5.2 million in 2019, a non-guaranteed base salary of $9.4 million in 2020, and a $9.4 million non-guaranteed base salary in 2021.
The deal also has annual workout bonuses of $400,000 and per-game roster bonuses of $37,500 for each game of each year of the contract. There’s also a $250,000 Pro Bowl escalator each year from 2018 through 2021.
While the signing bonus is the only guaranteed money in the deal, the structure forces early decisions in 2018 and 2019. It’s essentially a year-to-year deal for five years, but if the Packers decide to move on after either of the first two, Perry will hit the market early.
All things considered, Perry turned a one-year, $5 million deal from 2016 into a much higher payday (at least $19.8 million) for one more year. So no matter what happens in 2018 or beyond, Perry did a heck of a lot better than anyone ever would have expected based on the sluggish start to his time in the NFL.